Release
by Avonnalay-Ariemay
Summary: That's it! Work is driving her nuts, and Heero's icy indifference to her attempts of friendship is the final straw. She contrives a few hours to herself. Heero busts in, sees something he never thought possible, and the relationship takes a fiery turn.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer **- It's not mine. Never was. I'm not making any money off of this, just enjoyment. The songs are the property of whomever they belong to. I'm not stealing them, just borrowing. _

_**A/N **- Hey everyone! How's it going? Well, I'm back, and with quite a long little snippet here of my take on another facet of Relena's personality that's not always shown. Hope you enjoy._

_

* * *

__**Release**_

_**Chapter 1**_

_**It's All In The Planning**_

**_

* * *

_**She was tired of it. 

Absolutely, positively, undeniably tired of it.

Three months it had been. Three months since the last time she had been anywhere that was not an office, a board room or a speech hall.

Relena fell onto her couch with the grace of a dying jellyfish, kicking her shoes off and letting them land where they would.

She had finished up her work for the day, and was glad to see that her schedule for the next two days had been cleared by her secretary. She needed a few days off, some time for herself that she'd been neglecting the past few months. And it was about to start tonight. She'd been planning this evening for a few weeks now, making sure everything was ready, and that her cohort could make sure she was given a few hours on her own before having to come and get her.

Relena rummaged through the things in her room, trying to formulate a decent plan of attack. She knew getting away from her guard detail wouldn't be that hard because neither Duo or Heero had the night shift with her. She just had to find a way to not be found once she did get out of there.

Relena smirked to herself, knowing good and well that she wouldn't be recognized in the disguise she had planned. After a half hour of fighting, her light brown hair was pulled underneath a black wig of hair that was upswept in a sophisticated looking knot of ringlets that fell past her shoulders. A pair of contacts took care of her blue eyes, turning them a deep, forest green. Both the wig and the contacts were remnants of her gypsy Halloween costume from the year before.

The Vice Foreign Minister searched out her closet for one box in particular that had been given to her on her birthday only a few weeks before. Hilde and Duo's birthday present had been a sleeveless red dress that fell above her knees. The material was stretchy, and hugged her body tightly. It wasn't something she would normally wear, but it was exactly what she needed tonight. She grabbed a long coat from her closer and hurried on her way out.

* * *

Twenty minutes and one tripped fire alarm later, Relena was sitting inside a yellow taxi cab headed for the city, suddenly doubting her wild idea to head out on her own. She banished the thoughts quickly, telling herself that she had deserved some time off after working nonstop for so long. 

Ballroom dancing had been part of her upbringing, long before the first war had broken out. Rumba. Tango. Waltz. Quick step. Samba. She knew all of them perfectly, or at least had at one time. After all, any proper young lady in the upper class she had grown up in had to know how to dance. And that was exactly where she was headed. Hilde had told her about a new club that opened up in the city. It was no different than any other club in town, except for the small fact that the owners were Latin, and therefore the feeling of the building was tinged greatly with the flair and spice of the Latin nightlife.

Granted, most of the political balls she had ever attended up until now, there had never really been a need to know the more risqué dances of the ballroom world. You couldn't exactly do the rumba or samba with an aging ambassador from this colony or that one. So Relena figured it was time to see if she still remembered her lessons at all. She had enjoyed dancing as a teenager. That was one passion that had followed her as she had gotten older. And it was time to indulge a little in something she wanted to do.

The taxi turned into the traffic common on the streets for a Friday night and she sat back in her seat, thinking about how her entire life seemed to be spinning in a never ending downwards circle…especially if it had something to do with one stoic ex-Gundam pilot named Heero Yuy.

It had been five years. Five years since she'd caught a fleeting glimpse of him in the balcony of the speech hall she'd given a recitation in now even two weeks after Mariemaia's coup.

He had left without a word of warning to anyone, even the other pilots. Disappeared off the face of the Earth entirely, which really wasn't all that hard to believe. He had probably holed up somewhere in one of the colonies in space doing only heaven knew what.

She hadn't tried tracking him down despite the fact that she had wanted to. Duo had even offered to find him, but she had denied his friendly assistance, thinking that if Heero wanted to come back to her, then he would do it on his own.

And come back he had. Four years after she had last seen him, she got word from Duo that Heero had shown up in the Preventor's headquarters one morning. Une had given him a job with the security team for Relena's added protection. At first, she had thought it would be wonderful to see him day after day, even if it was in an office setting. Anything was better than nothing, or so she had told herself.

But now, she was beginning to wish he had never come back and she was back down to nothing again. At least then she wouldn't have to deal with knowing he was so near her, yet so far away. He wouldn't speak to her, wouldn't look at her. Nothing. He'd said more words to her during the few times she'd tracked him down before and during the war and Mariemaia's coup than he had since he'd started working at the Preventors.

She had done nothing different at first, thinking maybe he had to get used to being around people again before he would say anything. But her own patience began wearing thin after a few months.

She had never hid her feelings about him, never tried to shy away from what she knew in her heart. What had started out as a simple crush during the events leading up to the war had turned into full blown love by the time he had passed out in her arms in the Brussels' presidential mansion during the coup.

Heero, however, seemed to keep everything bottled up inside of him. He had yet to show the slightest amount of interest in her, even after all those years. His single minded focus on her protection was endearing, but she'd had enough of it. She had offered her friendship, and he had point blank refused her.

That had hurt.

So, she started treating him the same way he was doing her. She wouldn't speak to him, and pretty much completely ignored he was even there. It had been easy at first since her anger at his attitude had fueled her own attempt at retribution. But after a few weeks, her anger had cooled down. And the hurt of Heero blatantly ignoring her had set in again, leaving her in the state she was currently in.

A few minutes later, Relena climbed out of the cab, paid the driver, and got in line to get into the club. It was early in the evening, so there wasn't much of a line. But she knew that as the darkness fell, more and more patrons would begin flowing into the new hotspot. Half an hour later, Relena was walking into the doors. She headed straight for the bar. Of course, she wasn't much of a drinker, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Everything would have been fine then, she realized. She could have kept up her little façade of indifference indefinitely if she'd had to. Could have ignored the Japanese bastard for the rest of her life after she realized he could have cared less about her attempted friendship; it wouldn't have been any different than what he was doing to her day in and day out. But it all changed one day about three months ago. And her cold attitude to him turned into an icy glacier of utter hate.

* * *

_The day had started out normally, just like all the others. She had been picked up at her home and brought to work, only to find Heero already standing in his customary spot not far from her desk, his face shrouded in the waning shadows of the morning. Her greeting had went unanswered, which was nothing new. An hour before lunchtime, Relena's secretary buzzed in to say that Senator Myles was there for their scheduled meeting. _

_Relena should have known something was happening when Heero looked up at her with a surprised expression on his face._

_"Myles?" he asked. "Emily Myles?"_

_"Yes." she had answered, wondering at his sudden interest in her meetings. Heero had simply nodded and fell back into the shadows without another word, a frown on his face. _

_Relena welcomed both the Senator and her assistant into the room warmly. Emily Myles was a very well known political figure in her country, and Relena had been waiting patiently for their meeting for weeks. The elder woman had a motherly look to her, but her steel gray eyes showed that she knew her stuff, and was willing to argue you into the ground to get her point across if she needed to._

_"Minister, I'd like you to meet Sylvia Noventa, my personal assistant." Senator Myles said. Relena offered her hand and smiled, shaking the other young woman's hand welcomingly._

_"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Noventa." she said. "Please have a seat. I'm sorry for the intrusion, but my bodyguard will be standing by during our meeting. The Preventors organizer seems to think every person I talk to is going to attempt to assassinate me." Senator Myles laughed it off, only to stop and stare when she seen who was standing off to the side of Relena's desk. At her side, Sylvia stood up and shook her head, a small smile on her face._

_"Heero?" the young woman asked, stepping forward and embracing the stoic young man. "Where have you been? You left without saying a word to me."_

_Relena felt her heart drop somewhere in the vicinity of the seventh circle of hell, watching as Sylvia hugged the ex-pilot and smiled up at him. Heero, per usual, said nothing, but none-to-gently ushered Sylvia out of the room, shutting the door firmly behind him._

_"Ah, young love." Ambassador Myles said, grinning and shaking her head. Relena forced herself to sit down in her chair. It felt like someone had just dropped an anvil on her, and she couldn't move. "It seems my assistant will be a while in getting back. I hope you don't mind, Ms. Dorlian."_

_"Excuse me?" Relena asked, not quite sure she was still on the planet._

_"That young man threw Sylvia for a ringer when he left last year." the lady clarified, smiling like the cat that caught the canary at being able to gossip with the Vice-Foreign Minister. "They had been together for a few months before I took office. Always together, they were. He was quiet, though, but Sylvia didn't seem to mind at all. She told me that she thought she was in love; asked me what she should do. I told her to follow her feelings and see where they would lead her."_

_"I didn't even know they knew each other." Relena said, feeling like her head and her heart was about to explode. "What happened?"_

_"Well, I never got the whole story, dear, but from what I can understand, she told him."_

_"How'd he react."_

_"Must not have been too bad." the lady said with a smirk. "She comes into my office the next morning with a smile and a glow about her that I had never seen before. Only one thing can make a woman look like that, if you know what I mean."_

_"Well, I'm glad they found each other again." Relena had said, forcing a smile. _

_Needless to say, she used all the tricks of diplomacy she had to get the meeting concluded as quickly as possible. _

_After she had seen the visiting Senator out, Heero returned a few minutes later, resuming his spot a little away from her desk._

_"Sylvia Noventa?" she asked, looking over at him for some sort of conformation. _

_"Yeah." _

_It was the only answer he gave her, but it was enough to make her madder than she ever had been. She had decided right then and there that it was time to get over him, even if it killed her in the process._

_

* * *

Relena shook her head, downing the last of the heavily laced alcoholic drink and putting the tumbler back on the bar. It was clichéd, and she knew it. She gave herself a grim smile and turned around to watch the couples on the dance floor, watching as they moved to the heavy Latin beats pumping from the numerous speakers set around the large room. _

Getting rid of Heero had proven to be a bit more difficult than she had imagined. She had tried to have him reassigned to another unit within Preventors, even going as far as contacting Une herself to personally request it.

Hadn't worked.

So she tried getting Milliardo to talk Une into shipping him out on the next shuttle leaving for the Mars Terraformation project, saying his knowledge of mechanical engineering would prove more useful there than on Earth.

Hadn't worked.

She had tried another tactic then. She called Une and told her that she didn't want him as her personal bodyguard, and would feel better having Duo or one of the other Preventors there instead. That had almost worked, until Heero came into her office the next morning and told her that Duo was in the hospital with a broke leg, two cracked ribs, and a concussion.

She was fuming by then, but still bound and determined to get rid of the '_perfect soldier'_.

In retaliation, Relena started ditching her guard detail anytime she could. Granted, the first few times she attempted it, she had been caught and returned back to her office. Heero never said anything to her, never scolded her, just turned her around and marched her back to wherever it was she was supposed to be. But she had managed to slip away from him over half a dozen times. It had finally gotten to the point where Milliardo had stepped in and scolded her. She had delivered her ultimatum then, causing her elder brother to almost have a heart attack at her request.

Either he got rid of Heero, or she was going to keep ditching the Preventors any chance she could.

He hadn't relented and gotten rid of the ex-pilot, so she continued to be uncooperative. And then that asshole Yuy had walked into her office a few days later, demanding to know what her problem was and why she was trying so adamantly to get rid of him.

She left him standing in front of her desk rubbing his very red, very sore face.

Hence the reason she was now sitting in a club that neither Heero nor Milliardo would ever consent to her going to. And she didn't particularly give a damn what either of them thought.

Of course, everyone else had seen fit to give her their opinion on the matter as it stood.

Hilde said she needed to get laid.

Sally said she needed some time off.

Noin said she needed to get out more.

Trowa told her she needed to relax a little.

Relena just thought they all needed to go jump off a cliff.

She knew what she needed, and it wasn't time off from work or a relaxing day at the spa. She just needed a friend, someone to talk to when things got stressful.

Well, tonight was going to be different. She was damned sure of that much at least. Heero might not think of her as an adult woman with needs of her own, but that was his oversight.

"You okay there, pretty lady?" a voice asked, breaking Relena out of her self induced zone. She looked to her left, finding a slightly grinning man who couldn't be any older than her with jet black hair and a dark complexion.

"I'm fine, thanks." she said. "Kind of drifted off for a minute there."

"I got ya'." he said, grinning. "But I doubt that water bottle would be so understanding." Relena looked down at the bottle she had been drinking out of, only to find she had inadvertently crushed it in her hands while thinking of Heero. She frowned and placed the bottle on the bar.

"Oops." she muttered. "Didn't mean to do that."

"Happens all the time when you're thinking about someone you'd rather be choking." he said with a grin, causing Relena to start. Was she that transparent? He laughed and shook his head, taking another long drink out of the bottle he had. "Don't worry, I've seen that look on my sister's face when her boyfriend's done something stupid and she's ready to kill him."

"That's about right." Relena nodded.

"Name's Marco." he said, holding out his hand to her. Relena took it and smiled.

"Lena." she said easily. "Nice to meet you."

"You as well." he said. "So what did he do?"

"It's more along the lines of what he didn't do." she said, shaking her head. "But I really don't want to talk about it."

"Understandable." he said, finishing off the beer and tossing the empty bottle in a trash can behind the bar.

"Thanks."

"Wanna dance?" he asked, holding out his hand to her. Relena contemplated a split second, more than just a little surprised at this man's audacity to ask her such a question. She didn't know this guy from the next, and had one of her bodyguards been nearby he probably would have been thrown against the wall and frisked for weapons. "You've been watching the dance floor for the past five minutes, figured you might want to go out there and join them."

She had wanted to feel loved, needed, desired, that was the reason she had come there. Even if it was only temporary, only on that crowded dance floor with a complete stranger. It was still better than nothing. Was it so wrong, to want to feel the physical closeness of someone near her? Just to know that there was someone who was willing to get that close to her, if only for a little while. Just a reassurance that she was still human, that's all she wanted.

Damn it all to hell! If Heero didn't want her, then fine. But she would be damned if she was going to mope around waiting for him to figure out what he did want.

'_Then again, he doesn't know who I am, so it won't matter.' _she thought, sliding her hand into his own.

"Sure." she nodded, letting him lead her out onto the dance floor.

* * *

_**A/N **- Hey! How's everyone doing? I hope you are enjoying the newest story added to my collection.. Please remember to review, and I will send thee great tidings of cookies and candy._

_I know you're probably thinking Relena is horribly out of character, and she is…to a certain extent. _

_However, I shall justify her actions as such:_

_She undoubtedly had some type of ballroom dancing lessons, considering her upper class upbringing. Ballroom dancing includes dances such as the samba, cha-cha, and rumba, dances that were originally thought to be to provocative for 'genteel' company._

_And as for her motivations to run off and go dancing. Well, all I can say is that any woman walking this planet who has a stressful job, and an ignorant paramour who refuses to see blatant reason, needs a night of self indulgence. (Trust me, I'm an expert on that!)_

_Most women go to a spa._

_Relena goes dancing._

_See? It evens out. ;)_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer **- It's not mine. Never was. I'm not making any money off of this, just enjoyment. The songs are the property of whomever they belong to. I'm not stealing them, just borrowing. _

_

* * *

__Release_

_Chapter 2_

_Along Comes the Cavalry_

_

* * *

_Heero glared mutinously at the rather large bouncer that was standing at the entrance into the night club. The ex-pilot flashed his Preventor's badge with the other three men who had accompanied him on his impromptu search to find Relena. The burly guard quickly stepped down and let them inside. 

Before the door ever closed behind them, Heero was assaulted with the flashing lights and overwhelming heat that was being generated from inside the building.

"We're going to have a hell of a time finding her in this mess." Duo commented loudly over the blaring Latin music that was pumping through the speakers. "There's got to be three hundred people in here!"

"I don't care what you have to do. Just find her!" Zechs Merquise growled, gearing up to give his younger sister the lecture of a lifetime for ditching her guard detail and sneaking out of the house to a place like this. "Now split up!"

* * *

"Looks like someone's on the prowl tonight." Marco said. 

"What do you mean?" Relena asked, taking a mouthful of water from the bottle in front of her. She'd been at the club for a couple hours now, and was working up quite a thirst. She'd spent more time on the dance floor, alternating between various partners, than anywhere….and was loving every minute of her contrived freedom.

"Who're those jokers looking for?" he asked, nodding to a man with very familiar looking blonde hair who was wearing a Preventor's jacket. Relena frowned and inconspicuously turned her back towards her brother, looking back out to the dance floor, only to meet a set of green eyes that were set into a very familiar face halfway across the room.

"No clue." she shrugged. "Come on, let's dance."

"Yes, ma'am." he said, leading her back out there. Relena scanned the club, fervently trying to see if there were any other Preventors in the building. Through the dim light, she could make out Duo milling through the crowded dance floor. On the other wall, she saw a very calm looking Trowa. The only one that was missing was..

"Oh, sorry about that, buddy." Marco said, nodding to someone he had bumped into.

"Hn." came the deep voice that Relena was dreading to hear. She turned her head away from Heero, who had brushed off the incident and seemed so intent on finding her that he totally missed that she was standing in front of him. Of course, given the dim lights, mass of bodies, loud music, and the disguise she had on, it would have been a miracle if he had noticed it was her. Heero continued on his way, and Relena let out a huge sigh of relief as she and Marco found themselves in the middle of the throng of bodies beginning to dance to the soulful music oozing from the speakers.

She was safe out there, among so many people, at least for a while.

* * *

Trowa circled the dance floor of the club, his eyeswatching asZechs and Heero weeding through the throng of people, both searching for the same person he had already found. 

They wouldn't find her that easily, and he knew it. He had barely noticed Relena's changed appearance sitting at the bar where Heero was not questioning the bartender. He hadn't been sure at first, but the expression of surprise that had quickly melded into one of careless uninterest was telling.

Their ruse was working fine, and he wouldn't admit it, but the Heavyarms pilot was enjoying seeing Heero and Zechs so angry at being duped yet again by the evasive Relena Peacecraft. Of course, he'd had a large part in the events of the evening, slipping her the untraceable cell phone she'd called the taxi service that had taken her away from her house while the fire alarm was blaring in the background.

Trowa knew where she was going, had known since she had first approached him with the idea. He had agreed with her plan simply because he knew she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown from her job and the continued stress of dealing with that bastard Yuy.

Not to say that Trowa didn't respect the other pilot, but the way he was handling the situation with Relena was out of hand. It was a common fact that Heero loved her more than his own life, would do anything for her if she'd ask him to. But the fact of the matter remained that he wouldn't tell her, wouldn't show her the slightest bit of interest.

Trowa had watched silently as Heero's cold demeanor had slowly sucked the life out of her the past few months, turning her into a workaholic that focused on the greater good of everyone around her as opposed to her own happiness. She rarely ever smiled, never laughed anymore either. He had never seen her like this, never seen her so depressed. She hadn't been this bad after the fight with Mariemaia and Yuy had disappeared….again.

Preventors had called him not long after that, asking if he would head Relena's security team full time. He had agreed without much persuasion although he hadn't known her all that well, despite her dealings with the pilots during the war.

He had taken over the night shift supervision, and slowly gotten to know her over the four years she had been in his care. She was his confidante, and he was hers. She'd told him of her love for Heero, and how she had felt it was unrequited. Told him everything. And it was because of her friendship that he had allowed her this small respite from her torturous schedule. He knew of her love of dancing, so he let her indulge in it.

_**What if I was good to you, what if you were good to me  
What if I could hold you till I feel you move inside of me  
What if it was paradise, what if we were symphonies  
What if I gave all my life to find some way to stand beside you**_

She was happy now, dancing with whoever that guy was. There was a smile on her face again, and a healthy glow in her cheeks that had been absent for many weeks. Trowa smirked as he watched her. Relena was something when she wanted to be. The prim and proper Vice-Foreign Minister that everyone else in the world saw was currently dirty dancing in the middle of an overcrowded club with someone who would probably have a heart attack if they knew who she really was.

**_I don't wanna be lonely no more  
I don't wanna have to pay for this  
I don't want to know the lover at my door  
Is just another heartache on my list  
_  
**_**I don't wanna be angry no more  
You know I could never stand for this  
So when you tell me that you love me know for sure  
I don't want to be lonely anymore**_

She deserved this little respite from reality. Relena loved her job, she really did, and he knew that. She loved being able to help people, but he could also see where someone with her personality would quickly become fed up with the people she worked with.

He found the words to the fading song somewhat poignant. Relena didn't want to be all alone, either. But no matter what he had tried, she kept trying to shut everyone else out, enforcing her self isolation away from those she considered friends. Maybe after tonight, that little problem with rectify itself.

He chanced a look over at Heero, who was watching the milling crowd.

Yep, it would take care of itself just as soon as Gundam pilot 01 found his desired target.

_**I don't wanna be lonely anymore  
I don't wanna be lonely anymore  
I don't wanna be lonely anymore**  
_

_

* * *

_

Duo didn't know whether to laugh his ass off or be worried that Relena had managed to skip out on her guard again. Heero had called him a few hours ago, saying that Relena had come up gone from her house and to get his ass there pronto.

By the time the ex-Deathscythe pilot had gotten to the modest house, Trowa was there as well, along with a pissed off Zechs and a scowling Heero Yuy. The Preventor that had been on duty was currently getting a stern reprimand from the lightning count. After he finished yelling, the Preventor was sent away with strict instructions to report to Une's office the next morning.

"Where did she go?" Heero asked point blank when he had come in.

"How the hell would I know?" Duo answered, shrugging. He really had no idea where his princess had gotten off to this time, there was no telling. "Any ideas, Trowa?"

"If we were to assume she has not been kidnapped, I would suppose she has went into the city." he said quietly. "Was that not where she went last time she snuck away from her security? To a movie theater on the outskirts of the city?"

"She's not going to go to the same theater twice in a row." Zechs hissed, pulling out his phone and dialing Une. After a curt conversation, he was off and heading out the door. "Let's go."

"What's the plan?" Duo asked, following behind the taller man.

"We're going to track her down. She can't have gone far." he muttered. "Span out and find her!"

The four men had each left in their cars to search for the missing young woman.

They had finally managed to track her down through the cab company she had used to get away from the house. The guy hadn't recognized the description he'd been given from Zechs, but had told them he'd picked up a girl in a red dress a block or so away from Relena's address a couple hours before and then dropped her off at _Club Avalon_ in town. That had been the lead they needed. Duo recognized the description of the dress as the one he and Hilde had given Relena for her birthday a few weeks ago, so at least they knew what she was wearing now.

Now, they were searching around for a needle in a haystack. Duo didn't mind going to clubs; in fact, he and Hilde went to them all the time. But he had never actually realized how hard it was to find one person in middle of three hundred.

The heat being put off by the gyrating dancers was enough to make him sweat as he pushed his way through. He trained his eyes around the floor, searching for a flash of red somewhere.

He caught sight of one girl who was dancing, but couldn't see her face so he moved around a little more to get a better look. From the back, she looked to be about Relena's size and shape, but the head of black ringlets was throwing him off.

Of course when he did see her face, he had never been so surprised in all his life.

It was Relena all right, black hair, little red dress, and green eyes.

Duo's next thought was whether her dance partner had paid up his life insurance policy. Because Heero was headed his way.

_**Tonight we dance  
I leave my life in your hands  
We take the floor  
Nothing is forbidden anymore** _

"Any luck?" Heero asked, practically yelling over the loud music.

"Uh, I think I found her, buddy." Duo said nervously. "She's on the floor."

"Where?" Heero demanded, scanning the crowd for his charge's light colored hair.

"The one in the red dress." he said slowly, pointing to where Relena was dancing with the man.

"That's not Relena."

"Oh, yeah, it is." he said. "Hilde gave her that dress for her birthday, remember? The wig is from her Halloween costume last year." Heero looked, coming to the same conclusion as Duo. It was Relena.

And she was currently wrapped around some unknown male, dancing to the music that was slowly beginning to give him a headache.

_**Tonight I'm yours  
We can make it happen I'm so sure  
I won't let it go  
There is something I think you should know**  
_  
Zechs was about to snap. Relena had been missing for nearly four hours, and the only lead they had was a cabby who said he'd picked up a girl a block from Relena's house hours ago. It was hardly a concrete guide, but it was the only thing they'd managed to find. Still, he found it doubtful that Relena would be in a place like this.

Too many people, for one thing.

And she didn't like to dance, as far as he knew.

_**I won't be leaving your side  
We're going to dance through the night  
I want to reach for the stars.** _

He was making another round when he found Duo and Heero staring shocked face at someone on the dance floor. He also noticed that Trowa was weaving his way through the crowd to his comrade's sides. '_Did they find her?_' he wondered, going over to investigate.

"What's going on, you two?" he demanded. "You're supposed to be looking for Relena, not gaping at these people."

"We found the princess." Duo muttered, pointing out into the crowd.

"Out there?" Zechs asked, eyeing the crowd scrupulously. He didn't see her.

"She's with a guy in a black shirt and pants." Duo muttered. "Right there!"

Zechs searched the crowd, finding the couple in question as the surrounding people milled about. There was a lump in his throat when he took in four very important things.

One. It was in fact his younger sister out on the dance floor with this guy, dancing her heart out as they watched.

Two. The dress she had on was way to short, and showed too much skin for her partner to be touching.

Three. Yuy looked ready to murder said partner.

Four. This was about to get ugly, quick.

_**Bailamos - let the rhythm take you over Bailamos  
Te quiero amor mio - Bailamos  
Wanna live this night forever - Bailamos  
Te quiero amor mio Bailamos  
Como te quiero  
Como te quiero  
Como te quiero**  
_

* * *

Relena could feel the heat of her brother and Heero's combined gazes as the song ended and another one came on. She knew if she turned around to face them, her will would crumble and they would capitalize off her falter, pushing their way to come and get her. 

"Problems?" her partner queried when she turned to face him and buried her face in his shoulder, her body going tense.

"My brother's here to get me." she whispered. "He's standing over by the bar."

"Blonde hair, and a Preventor's jacket?" he asked flippantly.

"That's the one."

"And am I to assume the one glaring holes at my head is the one you're mad at, Lena." he chuckled.

"That would be a correct assumption, yes."

"Should I be concerned about bullets in this vicinity." he asked lightly.

"Not while I'm here." she muttered. "I think I've put them into a catatonic shock. You're fine until they get their brains functioning again."

"How long is that?"

"Five minutes, give or take?"

"Time for one last dance before they sweep you out of here then, yes." he asked. Relena smiled gave him a peck on the cheek. "Let's make it a good one, shall we?"

"Let's." she agreed, reaching up and putting her arms around his neck, bringing their bodies as close as she possibly could as he led her into the steps of a very familiar dance that she knew all too well.

_**I feel so unsure  
As I take your hand and lead you to the dance floor  
As the music dies, something in your eyes  
Calls to mind a silver screen  
And all its sad good-byes**_

She closed her eyes and laid her head back on his shoulder when he pulled her up close to him. His arms were wrapped around her waist, keeping her in place while they moved back and forth to the slow beat. She felt him take her wrist and pull her arm up to drape over his neck. Relena just smiled, relishing in the physical contact of another human being, the warmth being radiated from another living soul.

She was about to get caught anyway, might as well have fun while it lasted, right?

_**I'm never gonna dance again  
Guilty feet have got no rhythm  
Though it's easy to pretend  
I know you're not a fool  
Should've known better than to cheat a friend  
And waste the chance that I'd been given  
So I'm never gonna dance again  
The way I danced with you**_

She remembered this dance quite vividly in her lessons. The rumba, a slow dance that involved a lot of hip work and practically no space between the dancers. The '_bedroom dance' _of the ballroom world was what her instructor had described it as. The woman was a temptress, seducing her partner with her moves and coy looks. And despite the fact that the man always led, this form settled around the woman being central, pulling her partner into an electric union before pushing him away, teasing him and making him work for her affections.

And she was currently doing her best to fulfill that portrayal, her brother and Yuy be damned!

_**Time can never mend  
The careless whispers of a good friend  
To the heart and mind  
Ignorance is kind  
There's no comfort in the truth  
Pain is all you'll find**_

He spun her out slowly, then brought her back into the protective circle of his arms as they continued. Marco ran his hands down her sides, and she felt goose bumps rise on her arms as they swayed together, hips moving as one.

She was tired of it. Tired of having guards around her every minute of everyday, confined to her office or her small home outside of town. She was tired of the cameras, the security, all of it.

On the dance floor she was no different than the other young woman around her. Just as passionate and virile as the others, and she was intent on showing that to two of the four men who were currently standing at various points around her outside the dance floor.

She'd been found, and she knew it. But it didn't matter. Her brother looked like he was in utter shock and Heero didn't look any better. Relena smirked and met the cold gaze of the ex-pilot, almost like she was daring him to intervene, only to turn away when the spin ended.

"Don't think about him." Marco whispered quietly, apparently sensing her hesitation. "I'm not going to hurt you, Lena. Just dance with you."

It was enough for her. She took his hands, allowing him to pull her into a close embrace as the song played. Relena let the sensual sounds of the music pull her into a state of peace as she moved around her partner, matching him step for step and touch for touch.

To hell with what Heero Yuy thought. Let him see what he was missing out on. He'd get an eyeful by the time she was done.

_**I'm never gonna dance again  
Guilty feet have got no rhythm  
Though it's easy to pretend  
I know your not a fool  
Should've known better than to cheat a friend  
And waste the chance that I'd been given  
So I'm never gonna dance again  
The way I danced with you**_

"What the hell is she doing?" Heero growled.

"Dancing?" Duo offered as helpfully as possible.

"You call that dancing?" Zechs demanded.

"Ballroom dancing, yes." Trowa answered simply, watching the couple as they twirled around the confined space.

_**Never without your love**_

Heero had never seen her like this. The Relena he knew was a polished, sophisticated young woman with a promising career in the political arena of their world. The beautiful creature he was watching on the dance floor shared her face and body, but her actions were…..off.

Never had he thought he see Relena like this, a sexy, sensual woman who was embroiling herself in the moves of a dance he hadn't realized she even know. He was slowly losing control of his emotions, watching as this guy all but manhandled her in front of him and the rest of the patrons of the club.

And Relena was grinning!

Her eyes were closed and her hands were holding her partners in place around her waist, but there was a pleasing grin on her face as they swayed back and forth before he spun her out and brought her back into the safety of his arms, her back and his chest meeting softly. Relena's head went back to his shoulder and he could see her whisper something to him that caused a small smile to form on the darker man's face.

Heero resisted the sudden, undeniable urge to kill this new intruder.

_**Tonight the music seems so loud  
I wish that we could lose this crowd  
Maybe it's better this way  
We'd hurt each other with the things we'd want to say  
We could have been so good together  
We could have lived this dance forever  
But now who's gonna dance with me  
Please stay**_

Trowa watched the emotions play along Heero's face as he watched Relena move with her chosen partner. He suddenly wished he could read his fellow pilot's mind, wanting to know exactly what the great Yuy was thinking at seeing Relena like this.

Zechs didn't look much better.

Trowa suppressed a grin.

The two men had coddled Relena for too long. And it looked like this was exactly the alternative to shock therapy to make them realize she was no longer some naive little girl anymore. Whatever misconceptions they had placed on her being a perfect little prude were quickly thrown out the window. Relena was no harlot, and barely even recognized the flirting men done with her, but she was hardly a prude either. He had watched her dancing since they had entered into the club. She was not a blatant type of dancer. Her moves were subtle, as were her coy looks and smiles at her partner. The dances were tasteful, and much more toned down than most of the surrounding pairs.

It was true, graceful ballroom dancing techniques she practices, not the obvious carnal moves of her surroundings. It was hot enough to make him sweat, spicy enough to tempt any man, but it wasn't distasteful.

Nothing she did was ever distasteful.

Trowa was suddenly brought out of his musings when Heero's face went into it's familiar cold mask and he heard the audible '_click_' of a gun safety being disengaged. Things were about to get ugly, and he had to stop it before the guy Relena was dancing with wound up dead in some alleyway somewhere.

"I'll get her." he said, walking out into the crowded area before Heero could get one step in closer. "There's no need for bloodshed."

_**I'm never gonna dance again  
Guilty feet have got no rhythm  
Though it's easy to pretend  
I know your not a fool  
Should've known better than to cheat a friend  
And waste the chance that I'd been given  
So I'm never gonna dance again  
The way I danced with you**_

"You're coming to be claimed." Marco whispered to her.

"I figured." Relena said grumpily.

"It's not over yet." he said. "Show'em what you can do, Lena."

"Okay." she whispered. Her moves turned erotic, and she blatantly grinded her lower body against her partner. The rush of sensations caused her to gasp, and she felt Marco's hands grip her waist tightly before carefully putting some space between them. Thinking she'd gone too far, she looked up to apologize, only to see him grin and wink at her. He pulled her close and gave her a peck on the cheek before bending her into a deep dip. Relena, who hadn't been expecting the move, clutched him instinctively, but he only grinned.

_**Now that you're gone  
Now that you're gone  
Now that you're gone  
Was what I did so wrong, so wrong  
That you had to leave me alone **_

Marco pulled her up and swung her out as the last note faded, but instead of the gentle tug to pull her back towards him, Marco let her go. Relena opened her eyes when she bumped into someone else, ready to apologize. She felt someone's arm wrap around her waist, and she turned to see who it was that had caught her.

"Trowa?" she asked, unwrapping herself out of his arms and looking up at him with a soft smile to see the familiar green eyes of her dear friend. She should have figured he'd be the one to come and get her. Duo was still in shock, and Zechs and Heero couldn't be trusted to get her out of there without killing the innocent Marco.

"Sorry, princess." he said, nodding to the entrance. "Time to go."

"Already?" she asked quietly, looking around to see a glaring Zechs Merquise standing off to the side, and a very pissed off Heero Yuy heading for the nearest exit. Duo looked like he was stuck between going to make sure Heero wasn't going to shoot someone, and coming to get her off the dance floor. "I guess so, huh?" Trowa just nodded. Relena turned to Marco, who didn't seemed so surprised at another man's intrusion on his dance.

"Leaving me already, Lena?" he grinned.

"I'm afraid so. Sorry." she said.

"Normally I would put up a fight, but I have a feeling these gentlemen wouldn't like it that much." he said.

"Thank you, Marco." she mumbled. "I had a good time this evening, the first one in a long time."

"Don't mention it. Just glad I could help." Marco said a smile on his face as kissed her hand. "Anything for a pretty lady such as yourself. Remember what I told ya'. He'll come around one day. And if he doesn't, well, it's his loss."

"Thank you." she said sweetly. He grinned and disappeared into the milling crowd, leaving her in the protective custody of Trowa.

"Firing squad at the ready?" she asked easily, looking up at his with a half grin.

"Ready and waiting. Don't say I didn't warn you, princess." he said calmly, taking her arm and gently leading her towards the entrance.

"Figures." she muttered. But even with the impending sermon she was about to receive, she couldn't get the giddy feeling out of the pit of her stomach. She'd had her couple hours of fun. It would be worth the hell she was going to get from her brother when she got home.

* * *

_**A/N - **Oh dear, Relena's in trouble now. (cackles evilly) Let's see how our precious '**perfect soldier'** acts around his pure little princess now….._

_Oh, and please review, if only to tell me I've mutilated their characteristics. _

_(Points at an innocuous bottle of cough syrup labeled Nyquil.) _

_It's all the cough syrup's fault! It's messing with my head!_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer **- It's not mine. Never was. I'm not making any money off of this, just enjoyment. The songs are the property of whomever they belong to. I'm not stealing them, just borrowing. _

_**A/N **- Just so you know, the end of this chapter gets a little heated. It's nowhere near a lemon, barely even a lime, but here's your heads up just in case._

_

* * *

__Release_

_Chapter 3_

_Truth or Image?_

_

* * *

_"…of all the things for you to do? A night club, Relena? Do you realize how dangerous it is for you to be….". Relena drowned out the lecture she was getting from her brother. They were back at her house outside the city, and Relena was sorely tempted to kick the whole lot of them out into the streets. Maybe the rain would cool their tempers off. Not a one of them had said a word to her until they got back here. Zechs and Heero were fuming mad, that much was easy to see. Duo seemed to think it was funny now that she had been found. He had even complimented her attempt at a disguise, saying the only way he'd known it was her was because he'd recognized the dress. And Trowa, well, he was quiet as usual, but Relena had a feeling he wasn't angry at her so much as he was angry at Heero and Zechs. 

"How could you do this, Relena? With your position as Vice Foreign Minister, you can't afford…."

"My position can be thrown out the damned door, Milliardo, right along with whoever decided that my life was theirs to arrange." she hissed, finally loosing her temper with her elder brother.

"Relena.."

"Is it my safety or my image you're concerned about?" she demanded, causing the ex-soldier to look at her in shock. She never raised her voice at anyone, so for her to do it to him was a rare occurrence indeed. '_Well tonight just a night of shocks from me, now isn't it?' _she thought, standing up from her chair and matching the lightning count glare for glare. "I'm old enough to go out on my own for a few hours on a Friday night! Is that so wrong, Milliardo? You and Noin do it all the time."

"I'm not the Vice-Foreign Minister." he said flatly. "You have a reputation to protect, Relena. You can't be……"

"I don't care anymore, can't you see that?" she demanded. "If you're so concerned with it, you take my job! Let's see how much you like giving up every minute of your life to baby sit a bunch of pissy politicians who can't take a step on their own unless someone's there to reassure them it's okay." '_Well, that seemed to shut him up.'_ she thought. Taking his lapse in stride, she continued on her rant.

"I'm a human, and I don't mind working. I don't mind sacrificing to keep this peace everyone has worked so hard to achieve. But how many other diplomats and politicians, either here or the colonies, put in as many hours as I do? How many women my age work instead of have some sort of personal life."

"At least you had enough sense to disguise yourself." he groused, seeing the wisdom in her words, and knowing he was not going to win this argument against her. He worried about Relena more than he rightly should, he supposed. But he wanted to keep her safe. He just wished she'd have mentioned being so unhappy with her job before now. It would have been easier to alter her lifestyle before now, before she decided to strike out on her own and leave half the Preventor force searching the city for her.

"The only reason you knew it was me was because Duo recognized the dress. You walked past me four times and didn't even turn around, you and him both for that matter." she said coldly, pointing to where Heero was standing near the door, silent as death.

"I think that's enough." Trowa said, stepping forward to put an end to the argument. Relena blinked rapidly, attempting to wipe the tears from her eyes. She hadn't even known he was in the room. "She needs some sleep."

"Barton…" Zechs growled, warning the pilot not to overstep his bounds.

"It would be prudent to let her get some sleep." Trowa said simply. "You're not going to convince her of anything while she's like this." Zechs said nothing, just grabbed his jacket and exited the room. A few seconds later, Relena heard the front door of her house slam shut and the start of an engine as her brother pulled out into the rainy night.

Relena felt a comforting hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Trowa's calm face. "Come on, princess. Let's get you in bed." he said, helping her to her feet. She said nothing, just nodded and walked out of the room. She said nothing to the glowering Heero Yuy that was still standing beside the doorframe, and he said nothing to her. Such was the norm.

Why change it now?

* * *

Heero watched from the shadows as Relena walked through her house, talking easily with Trowa now that she had calmed down. The Heavyarms pilot and Vice-Foreign Minister had went to the kitchen and fixed some tea to drink after leaving the study, more to calm Relena down than anything else. 

It seemed to be working.

"Thank you, Trowa." Relena said, raising up on her tiptoes to give the tall Preventor a quick kiss on his cheek and slip something small into his hand. Heero couldn't make out what it was in the dimming lights, but figured it couldn't be too important. "I appreciate what you did for me tonight."

"Anytime you need me, I'm here." he said quietly, his usually impassive face turned into a gentle smile at the woman in front of him.

'_What he did? What'd that clown do? And when the hell did Barton start looking at her like that?'_ Heero thought angrily.

Heero was about to start snarling and ripping the other ex-pilot into pieces. It was bad enough seeing her dancing around with that guy that had been at the club they had pulled her out of. The bastard had been way to close to her, and had his hands in places that they never should have been. Mind you, he had completely forgotten the fact that Relena didn't look like she had minded the contact.

He watched as Relena took smiled and turned into her bedroom, shutting it quietly behind her and leaving Trowa in the hallway.

Now Heero Yuy was mad. Relena was ready to claw out his and Zech's eyes for coming and pulling her out of that club…but she was thanking Barton? What the hell was he missing in this picture? He didn't even know when she had gotten on such good terms with the usually silent pilot.

'_Guard detail.' _he remembered suddenly, frowning at the oversight on his part. '_Barton was the night detail while I was gone right after the war, and he kept that until I came back.'_

"Since when have you wanted her for yourself, Barton?" Heero growled as the other Preventor passed by him. He had come to the only conclusion he could. Trowa wanted Relena for his own.

Over his dead body.

"Get it together, Yuy." Trowa barked, anger actually lacing his usually calm voice. "She hates that pedestal of purity and chasteness you've put her up on. You saw what she was tonight, just well as I did. She's a woman withfeelings. And the ones she has for you are slipping away, real quick. So if you don't want to lose her for good, you better damned well find a way in there and talk to her."

Well, that definitely shined a new light on things. How blind had he been, honestly? Heero watched as Trowa's angry features quickly fell back into his normal expressionless face.

"Go talk to her." he said, leaving Heero to stand in the hallway. "And try not to fuck it up too bad."

Heero glared at the other man's back, silently wishing he could just pull a gun and shoot the bastard in the back of the head. He tamped down the homicidal urge and tried to calm down. He needed to talk to Relena, that much was for certain. The only problem was, he was pretty sure she'd rather throw him out the front door than talk to him right now. Heero braced up and walked the few steps down the hall, opening the door to her bedroom and walking in, shutting it behind him.

"Relena?" he called out, noticing the light in her bathroom was on.

"Oh, Trowa, I meant to tell you earlier about…Heero?" she started, coming to a complete halt outside the door that led off into her bathroom. Heero gulped, seeing that she had gotten rid of the disguise. Her light hair was loose and her blue eyes were sparkling, and she had changed into an oversized shirt that barely hung halfway down her thighs.

Heero suddenly felt like the temperature in the room had risen a hundred degrees. At least until he heard the ice her voice that had just so warmly welcomed him into her room as Trowa Barton. "What are you doing in here?"

"I'm not sure." he answered simply. He was such a coward. He'd told her he didn't know why he was standing there, when he knew exactly why he was where he was. He had finally admitted his feelings to himself about her one night at Duo's and Hilde's place; it was just stupid and utterly futile to keep telling himself that he wasn't in love with her. It was painfully obvious, at least to himself. Duo had been over the moon when he had finally admitted it to the Deathscythe pilot.

Of course the cheerful pilot hadn't been so over the moon when Heero had attempted to sabotage any chance of a possible relationship with her by giving her the cold shoulder routine.

It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to her, to interact with her. He didn't know what to do, what to talk about, how he should act around her. And in his mind, it was safer to do nothing and minimize the chance of a major screw up on his part , than to chance it and possibly make her angry with him.

Hence the reason he was standing there like an idiot, unsure of what to say or do to get into her good graces again.

"Well can you not be sure out in the hallway?" she asked pointedly. "Because I'm going to sleep."

"Relena…" he said, his mouth dry and his brain uncharacteristically blank. The name alone stirred unusual emotions and feelings within the supposedly unfeeling perfect soldier. Things like this weren't supposed to happen. Relena was supposed to be the pure, sweet, little girl who he had vowed to protect those years ago. After what he had seen tonight, he wasn't sure that description was appropriate anymore.

He frowned, trying to forget what his initial reaction had been to seeing her being so intimate with another human, another man. The provocative look on her face had been a ploy, he knew that. She wasn't anymore interested in that guy than she was in Quatre, but that didn't make him feel any better. Just recalling the way she looked caused him to feel like he'd just stepped out of a very hot sauna.

He had many times tried to understand these feelings he had for Relena, the emotions she stirred up in him. Subconsciously, he had a pretty good idea of what had happened to him, knew that it was too late to go back. But that didn't mean he had to admit it to anyone else, not even himself.

"Why him?" he demanded suddenly, pinning her with a cold look.

"Who?"

"Barton."

"Trowa?"

"Yes."

"What about him?"

"How'd he know where you were?"

"You'll have to ask him that." she said with a shrug. "Although from what I gather he tracked me down through the cab company."

"I'd rather beat the whole truth out of him." Heero growled, causing Relena to bristle up like a cat ready to pounce on it's prey.

"You lay one hand on him, Heero Yuy, and I'll have you shipped to Antarctica so fast you won't know what hit you!" she threatened, glaring at him venomously and daring him to defy her.

"You're taking up for him?" Heero asked, more surprised at her heated outburst than her defense of the other Preventor. She'd never raised her voice at him in anger, even after he'd come back.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"That's my business, and no concern of yours."

"Everything you do is a concern of mine." he said, watching as she climbed into her bed and rolled over onto her side, presenting her back to him.

"Go away, Heero." she said quietly. "You're not wanted here."

That simple statement was like a bucket of ice water being thrown on him in the middle of a summer day. He was in deep shit, and had better find a way out of it before he suffocated.

"I was before." he muttered quietly.

"That was before. Not now. Things change." she answered quietly, some of the wind gone from her sails. "You showed me that."

"Not that much." he said.

"Get out of here, Yuy, before I call Trowa in to throw you out."

"That's unlikely." Heero groused. Barton's name was the last one he wanted to hear her utter right now.

"You'd be surprised." she said. "He's stronger than I ever gave him credit for."

"How do you know this about him?" he asked.

"He actually talks to me, that's how." she said, finally sitting up in her bed and glaring at him. "Unlike someone else I know. He's stayed up with me on nights I couldn't sleep, talking about whatever subject we pulled up. Trowa is the one who let me cry on his shoulder when things got rough, told me everything would be okay in the end. Boosted up my confidence when I felt like I would fall apart."

"He's a soldier."

"You're right, he is." she said. "But he listens, and that's better than anything you've ever done for me. So get off of your high and mighty kick, and take a good look around. I don't need a soldier to watch over me. I need a friend. And if that friend is an ex-Gundam pilot turned circus clown who just happens to be working for the Preventors, then so be it."

"You love him, don't you?" Heero realized with a start. It was easy to see the affection floating in her eyes for the circus clown.

"Yes, I do. But only as a dear friend who's been there for me when the one person I did want at my side was off somewhere doing only God knows what with only God knows who!" she said icily.

'_She's talking about Sylvia.' _he realized. That relationship had been a mistake to begin with, and had only ended badly when he'd left to come to Preventors. Seeing the young woman again had thrown him for a shock, especially when she had welcomed him with open arms after just disappearing the year before. '_Of course Relena welcomed you back happily every time you showed up again as well.' _his conscious pointed out.

"Sylvia was a….mistake, Relena. She wasn't who I wanted. She wasn't….". He caught himself before he could say '_you_'.

"Just tell me what you want, Heero, please." she said. "Since is seems that throwing you into shock has the reverse effect and you're finally talking to me after all this time."

"A chance." he said.

"For what?" she demanded.

"To….to show you that…" he started, only to stop when he felt the words get all tangled up in his mouth. "I don't know… Relena you must know how I feel."

"I'm afraid I don't." she said, shaking her head. "All I do know is that I waited and waited for at least a word from you, Heero. Four years. Four years of worrying over whether you were alive or dead or somewhere in between. Then you pop up out of the blue. I welcomed you back, yet again, thinking maybe things might have settled down a little.

I offer you my friendship, and what do you do? You give me a cold shoulder. You ignore any semblance of companionship from me. Sure, you get along fine with Duo and Hilde, you even get along with Wufei and the rest of the Preventors. What was I supposed to think, Heero?

And then that little incident with Emily Myles and Sylvia in my office a few months ago. That was the proverbial final nail in the coffin, so to speak. I'll admit it. I was jealous of her, knowing she'd held your attention for such a long time, and still held your friendship. And I could do neither. That hurt, Heero. You wouldn't believe how that hurt me.

The only conclusion I came to was that there was something wrong with me. So, I gave up. I can't change who I am, nor will I, not even to please the man I've loved for years.

And now you come to me saying you want a chance to prove yourself? How many more do I have to give you? You've wasted four years of chances already. What's to say you won't do the same again?"

"You…still love me?" he asked. He hadn't heard anything she'd said after that declaration, although he knew it was probably important. The fact that she still cared about him was enough to make him feel this attempted endeavor to tell her his feelings was possible, even if it was minutely so.

"I never stopped." she admitted candidly, despite the fact she clearly didn't want to. "Nor do I think I will anytime soon, despite the way things are between us."

"You lie." Heero said, looking her in the eyes.

"What?"

"You lied, about changing yourself." he said. "What I saw tonight was not the Relena I know."

"Maybe that's because the side _you_ know is the only side you've ever taken the _time_ to get to know." she said. "I've grown up, Heero. There's more to me than this two dimensional character of peace you and the rest of the world has put on a pedestal. Just like there's more to you than the '_perfect soldier_' façade you were given during the war."

"But…"

"I enjoyed it, Heero. Can't I get that through your head?" she asked. "The dancing, the touching, all of it. There's nothing wrong with that. I haven't done anything wrong!"

"A temporary reprieve from your self induced isolation it might be, but it is hardly conducive to keeping you untainted." he said gruffly.

"Now you're starting to sound like Zechs. What are you more concerned about. Me, or my image to the public? They are two separate entities, you realize." she accused.

"I know that."

Relena heaved a sigh of aggravation and looked over at the clock on her nightstand. It was going on two in the morning, and she was tired.

"Look, we can finish this argument in the morning. I'm going to bed." she said, climbing back into her bed and covering herself up with the blanket. "Good night."

Heero just stood there for a few minutes, trying to sort out what was going through his head.

He loved Relena, more than anything else, had for the longest time. It had just taken the shock of seeing her in the arms of another man to make him realize that there were in fact others who could possibly take her away if she let them.

On many levels, Heero realized that she didn't need him. She had a career, she had friends, and she had many admirers that would happily be standing in his place right now. He truthfully had nothing to offer her, other than his affection. Hell, he didn't even know his own name! But she had seemed not to care about that before, or now.

She just wanted him, that was all. Why he couldn't give her that, he didn't know. But it probably dealt with the fact that every possible scenario he had imagined with him at her side usually ended up with her losing her career because of someone finding out his past history with the Gundams and OZ.

A sudden, annoying voice that sounded too much like Duo for his peace of mind quickly and happily pointed out that that realization hadn't stopped either Hilde or Dorothy from getting engaged to himself or Quatre.

'_Words cannot describe what love is. It's not in a dictionary or an encyclopedia. It's just knowing that you can count on the other person no matter what, that they'll be there forever. Their past doesn't matter, nor does their present. You overlook mistakes each other made, and pray not to make them again. It's all you can do in this world we live in.'_ Hilde had said once.

He had only come close to losing his mind once, but he was close to it now...and there was no ZERO system to blame it on this time.

'_Just show her, Heero.' _Duo had told him that same night. '_Sometimes you can't say what you want, you just have to go with what you feel, what comes natural.'_

Heero stilled himself and walked over to where Relena was lying on her bed. He carefully sat down beside her, feeling her taunt body tense even further as he began to speak quietly to her.

"I can't tell you how I feel, Relena, because I don't know the words for it." he said simply, his voice sounding husky and far away…even to himself. "But I can show you, if you will let me."

Relena rolled over and sat up, looking at him carefully. The timbre of his voice had lowered, and it scared her to hear him sound so unsure of himself. This wasn't the Heero she knew, the one who had rescued her half a dozen times in the past with cool efficiency. She reached out to touch him, but he caught her hand in his own, turning those beautiful eyes onto her. "Heero…?"

"Just once, let me show you." he pleaded intensely . "It's the only way I know how. Words…confuse me. But actions…I can show you my feelings better than I can tell you."

"I can't…" she began, only to be shushed when the pilot in front of her closed the gap between them and kissed her softly on the lips, driving everything but that electrified contact out of her mind. His tongue probed her lips, quickly invading her mouth the moment she relented and let him in. He teased her tongue with his own, silently challenging her to meet him halfway. He groaned, mercilessly twisting the back of her nightshirt to keep his hands from going any lower down her body.

It was so much…so quick. Relena honestly didn't know what to do. Oh, she knew what her body was telling her to do, and that went somewhere along the lines of stop thinking and just react to what was happening. Her foggy brain was on the verge of complying wholeheartedly when Heero pulled back away from her and looked down with those deep blue eyes of his. Relena's breath was coming in short pants, and it gave her a sadistic gleam of delight to see that she wasn't the only one affected. Heero didn't look to be in much better control than she did. He took her hand and placed it on his chest. She could feel the quick thumping of his heart through the shirt, and brought her surprised eyes up to meet his.

"You see what you do to me?" he asked huskily. "The control you have over me?"

"Heero…"

"Please, Relena…I'm sorry…for everything." he begged, his smoldering blue eyes boring into her soul. "Let me show you the only way I know how that you're the world to me."

That was it.

That was her undoing.

Her last wall of resistance faltered….and fell at his feet.

She could already tell she was going to regret this in a few hours, but what the hell….

The level headed Relena Peacecraft crumbled with that one whispered request from him. She'd never been able to deny Heero anything, no matter what it was. She had no will power when it came to this man…and it killed her to be so weak around him.

"Just promise me you'll be here in the morning." she relented, wrapping her arms around his neck. He pulled her into his lap and kissed her again, his jealousy giving way to pure, unadulterated passion for the woman before him.

"I promise." he said, breaking their contact only briefly to readjust himself on the bed before dragging her back towards him. "We'll figure the rest out tomorrow."

Relena was heady with emotion. Forgotten was the aggravation and anger she'd had with him, gone was the indecision and cautious front she'd been presenting for weeks now. It was no use. The time and effort they had put into ignoring their feelings was swept away, leaving her feeling dizzy headed from the release. This was what she had dreamed about for so long, the exact same scenario that had caused her to wake up hundreds of times drenched in sweat and calling out to an invisible facsimile of the lover she so desired.. The lover who was currently holding, caressing, and kissing her senseless.

But in the back of her mind, she knew this would more than likely simply be a temporary reprieve that had been brought on by his raging jealousy that stemmed from what he'd seen earlier…..but she didn't care. She wasn't ashamed of how she felt about him.

At least not at the moment.

'_Just tonight.' _she thought, reaching for the hem of his shirt in an attempt to remove the barriers between them. '_I'll probably regret it tomorrow. But it'll do for tonight…'_

Heero felt her hands tangle in his hair after she digested him of his shirt and they continued to duel for supremacy in the kiss. He could feel the light scraping of her nails as they pulled along his scalp and down his neck. This felt right to him. He was where he wanted to be for so long, where he was needed. This was what he had imagined for the past five years. Having her by him, with him, was better than anything his overactive imagination had managed to conjure up.

Her skin was smooth, her lips were soft, and her body was hot to the touch, her curves molding to fit to his body as he settled her over his legs, startling his lap.

This was more than he could stand.

"Relena…." he muttered, trying to get a hold of himself before this went to far. He hadn't come in here with the intention of sleeping with her, but at the rate he was going it wouldn't be long before that's exactly where they ended up. "Relena..."

"Just shut up, Yuy." she growled, causing him to flush at the untainted, coarse desire that was lacing her usually honey voice. "Before you say something stupid."

"Relena?"

"If you've got something to show me, then you better do it." she said, burying her head into his hair and raining kisses along his neck. "I'm not a very patient woman, you know."

That was all he needed to hear, her acceptance of his actions. She was opening her heart up to him for what could possibly be the best thing of her life, or the worse possible disaster. Her surrender left him breathless, and he felt like a god as she moved against him.

His mind was set, and his single minded focus would prove to be a valuable asset to him in the coming hours as they slowly stripped away the walls they had thrown up to ward the other off, the physical barriers that were hindering them.

And he only had one thing on his mind right now, to show Relena the truth behind the words he couldn't say…but had always been present in his mind and heart.

* * *

_**A/N **- Well…(Reads back over that chapter and blushes intensely) _

_I don't rightly know where THAT came from. But…uh…suffice to say this whole fic has been monstrously out of character for me. So, I don't exactly know what to say…other than it's probably the result of that bottle and a half of Nyquil I took. (I have a horrible cold!) _

_Anyhow, please, by all means, review. I'd love to know what you're thinking. _

_(Even though I'm not so sure I know what I'm thinking…Once again, I blame it on the Nyquil…)_


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